Sway, Strut, Swirl
by Mae Snapdragon
Summary: A collection of song fic drabbles about the first time Ichigo sees Rukia dancing.
1. So She Dances

**This is the first of my one shot song fic drabbles! I have three planned so far, including this one, but if someone gives me a song (has to involve dancing somehow) that I get an idea for, I may write a few more.**

**This song is "So She Dances" sung by Josh Groban. Listen to it, it's beautiful. And Kubo owns Bleach. If I owned it...well, IchiRuki wouldn't just be hinted at, it would be REEEAAALL.**

**Also, the bolded parts are the lyrics of the song...  
><strong>

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><p><span>So She Dances<span>

The ballroom was huge, ridiculously so, ostentatiously so, with a ceiling so high you had to tip your head back to see the top, with pillars and spiralling patterns, marbled floors, and a wide staircase leading down to the ballroom floor, carpeted with thick, luscious red. Kurosaki Ichigo could see Kuchiki Byakuya's hand in everything and, not for the first time, he found himself wondering what the hell he was doing here.

The Annual Shinigami Ball. Of course it would be held at the Kuchiki Manor, and of course everyone of any importance would be there. He was standing at the side, holding a wine glass that looked like it would snap any second. Of course, it was filled with juice. Matsumoto had laughed her head off when she had given it to him.

"Here's to the only underage shinigami ever!" she had crowed. "We have a bowl of juice just for you right here!"

He would have punched her if it weren't for the fact that she had turned to her captain and started trying to feed him juice as well, claiming that although he was technically older than Ichigo, he looked like he was underage. Ichigo had decided it would be best to leave before Hitsugaya decided to prove his maturity and age by going Bankai on her.

So here he was, feeling awkward as hell, at the first dance of his life.

He wouldn't even be here, except...

On his invitation, written in formal, elegant script and delivered to him by hell butterfly, there had been a horrible drawing in the corner of him with rabbit ears and a few scrawled words:

"I hope to see you there!"

And he was here, because she had asked.

The music changed, and he tipped his head trying to figure out what it was. A waltz, that was it. His mother used to listen to classical music all the time, so he remembered it.

**A waltz when she walks in the room**

It was at that moment that he saw her.

She had appeared at the top of the staircase, unseen by all save him. She was wearing a white dress that flowed down her form and swished around her legs, her pitch black hair swept up, that one distinctive bang still falling in front of her face. It was simple, but she looked elegant, ethereal, even as she skipped lightly down the steps, skirting close to the railing and trying to be seen as little as possible.

Ichigo felt his hand drift down, setting the glass on the table next to him. She had descended into the crowd, and he found himself moving to keep her in his sight, glimpses through the throngs of other people across the dance floor. He couldn't take his eyes away.

**She pulls back the hair from her face  
>She turns to the window to sway in the moonlight<br>Even her shadow has grace**

Unnoticed by all, she was dancing, spinning lightly, her hands tracing the air. And she was smiling too, softly, her eyes closed. She was beautiful, Ichigo thought numbly. And she was so untouchable.

**A waltz for the girl out of reach  
>She lifts her hands up to the sky<strong>

**She moves with the music  
>The song is her lover<strong>

His eyes traced over her like hands, lightly and reverently, watching the white fabric cling and then swirl around her with unmistakable grace. She was alone, and yet she didn't seem to need anyone else with her. The music was carrying her, and he had never seen anyone dance like that, as if she was moved by the sound itself.

**The melody's making her cry**

He had never seen Rukia like this before.

**So she dances  
>In and out of the crowd like a glance<br>This romance is  
>From afar calling me silently<strong>

He kept walking, watching her at a distance, uncertain how to approach her, or even if he should. Somehow he just wanted to stay as he was, his eyes on her and his head filled with things he'd never thought about until this moment.

Ichigo didn't know it then, but his gaze, burning across the floor, didn't go unnoticed.

Renji had spotted Rukia come down the staircase, and he had been about to go over to her when he had seen Ichigo, out of the corner of his eye, setting down his glass and stepping forward slightly, his eyes filled with amazement. Renji had stopped then, feeling that somehow he couldn't cross the floor and break the connection of Ichigo's eyes on Rukia. Somehow, he felt that even trying would be doing something wrong. Ichigo's face had humbled him, and surprised him. He had never seen Ichigo look at anyone that way.

Matsumoto, unsurprised, had loosened her suffocating hug on Hitsugaya (allowing him to peel his face gratefully away from her cleavage), to nod her chin at Ichigo, grinning smugly.

"I saw that coming," she had said.

Anyone who'd ever seen Rukia and Ichigo together at all, even for just one conversation, noticed. Ichigo didn't hear the slight murmurs or see the sly looks: his eyes were filled with just one girl.

Byakuya, taking note of the ripple of talk through the crowd, had turned, ready to rip his sword out and cherry blossom that insolent boy to death, when he caught sight of Ichigo's expression. He was on the other side of the ballroom, but he still recognized a face like that, and he felt a stab in his side, where his wife should have been.

He had turned back to the group he had been talking to, resolving silently to give the boy a chance. If he could look at Rukia with that kind of awe in his eyes, maybe, just maybe, he deserved her.

Ichigo was as oblivious as always, but at least this time, he had an excuse, in the form of a girl who danced like she was music itself. He pushed through a few people, halving the distance between them, but as he drew nearer to her, he stopped, unsure how to proceed.

**A waltz for the chance I should take  
>But how will I know where to start?<br>She's spinning between constellations and dreams  
>Her rhythm is my beating heart<strong>

How could he do this? He almost turned away, headed back, but he didn't want to lose sight of her even for a minute. Maybe it was better if he didn't talk to her, didn't try to touch her at all. Right now, she was too beautiful for him. He wasn't sure how to take this new Rukia, who was everything he'd always known, but at the same time different. Would she even want to dance with him?

**So she dances  
>In and out of the crowd like a glance<br>This romance is  
>From afar calling me silently<br>**

But what if someone else asked her? What if someone else had also seen what he saw, and wanted to dance with her as well?

Ichigo clutched his head, his thoughts spinning. He'd faced so much with her and for her. He could do this.

**I can't keep on watching forever  
>I'd give up this view just to tell her<br>**

He could see it in his mind now.

**When I close my eyes I can see  
>The spotlights are bright on you and me<br>We've got the floor  
>And you're in my arms<br>How could I ask for more?**

He opened his eyes, decided. He was going to ask her.

Ichigo started to move across the floor in determination, but just as he was getting closer, she turned, drifting pensively over to the wall. He dodged around a group of shinigami who had obviously had too much to drink, and spotted her ducking out through a small archway. He hesitated only briefly, then followed.

The archway led outside, where the warm night air was sweeping off of trees and brushing against his skin like the touch of fingers. Rukia was leaning on the railing of the balcony, just a few feet from him, her dress swirling down around her ankles. A few tendrils of hair had escaped from her updo and were dancing by themselves in the wind.

**So she dances  
>In and out of the crowd like a glance<strong>

**This romance is**

**From afar calling me silently**

She was a black outline against the moon, glowing brightly in the sky and bleaching everything a pearly white. She raised one hand, maybe to tuck her hair back behind her ear, and suddenly he had moved without realizing it, taking her hand in his own.

She glanced behind her up at him, her eyes wide and bottomless.

"Want to dance, Rukia?"

**I can't keep on watching forever**

**And I'm givin' up this view just to tell her **

"What?" she said quietly, surprise flashing across her face.

Ichigo knew he should've felt awkward, should've felt embarrassed, and nervous, and stupid, but out here, under the moon, he didn't feel any of that at all. He pulled her slowly to him, his free hand curving around her waist, his fingers entwining with hers.

"Don't you know how to dance?" he asked. The waltz was still playing, and he could almost hear his mother's voice in his mind, showing him the steps.

"Of course I do," she responded, already dancing with him, like silk.

They should've been bantering like normal. She should've called him an idiot by now. He should've said she was stupid. But neither of them seemed to be able to do anything but stare at each other, moving together as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Finally,

"Ichigo?" Rukia said softly, her fingers spreading across his shoulder until one slid against the bare skin of his neck.

The music was fading, and they slowed, until they were just swaying in place, arms around each other. Ichigo leaned down and slid his face next to hers until he could whisper in her ear.

"You're beautiful, you know."

She pushed away, her cheeks flushing red.

"You're lying."

"Am not," he laughed.

"Yes, you are!"

"I'm really not!"

"Yeah, well, prove it!"

He kissed her.

People might've said that he was too tall and she was too short, but had anyone passed by the archway at that moment and chanced to look out, they would've had to stop and marvel at the two silhouettes, there against the moon. Beautiful, they would've said it was.

He kissed her, and discovered that her mouth was as soft as it looked. She made a small noise that almost undid him, but then her hands were at his face and her lips were moving against his. Dancing.

**I'm givin' up this view just to tell her.**

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><p><strong>AN: I'm not certain, but this may be the sappiest thing I've ever written. I apologize! I love sappy things! Preview of next drabble: Bust it!<br>**


	2. Bust A Move

**Second song-fic time! This song is "Bust A Move", which is originally by MC Esher, but I'm using the Glee version, because I've never actually heard the original version. I sort of like this one...I think it's kind of is a different type of songfic, where the characters are actually listening to the song, as opposed to having the song lyrics stuck in their as part of the narrative.**

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><p>"Ichigo!"<p>

Kurosaki Ichigo sighed and dropped his face to his textbook. She was never going to leave him alone, was she?

"Ichigo!"

Great. Her voice was getting closer and closer. He debated hiding, but then just slumped his shoulders over more. Maybe she'd leave him alone if she thought he was sleeping.

"Ichigo!"

The door burst open and small hands clamped down on his arm and yanked him almost halfway out of his chair. Ichigo stumbled, then shot to his feet, glaring down at the smirking black-haired girl.

"Rukia, what do you want?" he snarled. "I'm doing homework right now-"

"I require your assistance immediately," she said seriously, her hand slipping down his arm to curl around his wrist, pulling him towards the door of his room. "Come with me."

"This isn't going to be like that time when you got me to get out fifteen different mangas from the library on MY card, is it?" Ichigo groaned, allowing her to lead him through the doorway and down the stairs. Her hand was uncomfortably warm on his skin, and he resisted the urge to either slip his arm out of her grasp or slide his hand up into his fingers could twist around hers.

Rukia had a tendency to awaken contradicting desires in Ichigo. He constantly felt like punting her out the window or grabbing her and holding her in his arms. The first desire made perfect sense to him, but the second confused the hell out of him, so he simply ended up doing neither.

It had only been a month and a half since she'd started living in his closet, but already he had gotten used to it.

"I have discovered another one of your contemporary teenage rituals," Rukia said, glancing over her shoulder at him. "And I wish for you to teach it to me."

"Contemporary-Shit, this isn't something Keigo told you, is it?" Ichigo exclaimed, feeling like his head would explode. "You know not to listen to anything that guy says-"

"Don't be foolish," she snapped in response, dragging him into the living room. She had already pushed the couch to the side of the room, leaving open a wide space in the middle. She let go of Ichigo's arm and skipped over to the cd player sitting on the bookshelf in the corner. "Can you pass me that CD on the chair next to you?"

Ichigo picked up the CD and passed it over to her.

"Isn't that one of Yuzu's?" he asked. "From that American musical TV show she likes to watch?"

"I believe it is called "Glee"," Rukia responded, enthusiastically popping out the CD and placing it within the CD player.

"And what exactly does it have to do with this ritual thing I'm supposed to teach you?"

"You are going to teach me how they dance in the human world," she said decisively, planting her feet as though preparing for a battle, her violet eyes flashing.

Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest. "No way. No way in hell."

"But this is part of my research!" she protested, even as he started to back up. "Are you so selfish as that you can't even help me in my understanding of the average teenage psyche?"

"I have homework to do!" he shot back, bounding up the stairs. "You just do that on your own, okay?"

"Stingy!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes as he closed his door behind him, hearing the muffled sounds of music start up below him. Whenever the rest of his family was gone, Rukia had a tendency to run around the entire house, exclaiming about the freedom of being out of his tiny room. The first time all three of his family members had been gone, he had been forced to give her a tour of the house, and show her how to work the television, the oven, the dishwasher, the microwave, the toaster, the cheese grater, and his dad's electric razor. Living with Rukia was a mess sometimes. It almost irritated him how easy it felt, how normal.

My life is not normal, he reminded himself, wincing as he heard a slight crash from downstairs. Dang it, hollows usually seemed to show up at all the worst moments possible, but they couldn't show up now? Just his luck.

After a few songs had gone by, accompanied by sporadic thumps, Ichigo couldn't take it. He got up and slowly moved down the staircase. The words of the music became clear, and he recognized some. It was a cover of an English song he'd heard a long time ago.

**"-you run over there without a second to lose, and what comes next, hey, bust a move!"**

He stuck his head around the corner and froze at the sight in front of him.

Rukia was in the middle of the room, and she was...

Well, she was...

She was busting a move.

Her arms flailed, her elbows jabbed out like weapons, her head bobbed up and down, and her torso twitched like she was on acid. She spun and jumped, punching the air, her face screwed up in concentration, then she kicked backwards, accidentally knocking over a small table. She was oblivious, she was in the moment, she was definitely busting more moves and furniture than Ichigo had ever seen anyone do.

He burst out laughing.

Rukia froze, turning halfway to see him hunched over in the doorway, seized in a fit of laughter, barely able to breathe.

"What..the...hell?" Ichigo wheezed, clutching the wall for support. "Are you dancing, or attacking the music?"

He ducked automatically, and her kick of retribution soared over his head. Rukia rounded on him, snarling, her cheeks spotted with pink, as he backed up into the room, still trying to control his amusement.

"That's why I wanted you to teach me!" she snapped, stamping her foot on the carpet. "I can dance the Soul Society way very well, but I do not know how to move to this kind of music! Stop laughing!"

Ichigo glanced up at her, and grinned, suddenly having way too much fun to stop.

"Yeah, fine, I'll teach you," he conceded, beckoning her with a hand into the centre of the room. He might as well, right? It wasn't like there was anyone else around to see him dancing. Just Rukia, and she had already proved how much of a failure she was.

"You don't flail like that, alright?" he said, gesturing for her to stand in front of him. "Here, just start off with moving your head to the beat. Yeah, like that."

He snickered slightly, and Rukia shot a death glare up at him, blowing her constant bang piece out of her eyes.

"I thought I told you not to laugh at me," she said.

He ignored her.

"Now move your hips to the music."

She started swivelling them in huge circles, and Ichigo busted up again.

"That's not what I mean!" he exclaimed. The sight of her frustrated expression made his grin just grow larger. God, she was cute.

Cute? He decided not to analyze that thought.

"It's not fair!" she said, trying valiantly to imitate him. "You are good at this, and I am not."

"Then don't try to be good," he laughed, enjoying this too much to care about his reputation. Funny, but he'd never cared about his public image when he was with Rukia. "Just have fun."

He danced in a circle around her, singing along with the song.

**"They're lyin' on the beach perpetratin' a tan, so that a brother with the money can be their man."**

Her scowl faded, and she actually smiled, her movements becoming less jerky as she turned to face him.

"I didn't know you could sing," she said.

"I can't," he answered. He reached out and took her hand, pulling it up and spinning her. She closed her eyes and laughed, flowing into the turn, her hand grasping his naturally.

"That's something that they do in the Soul Society dances!" she said excitedly. "I did not know that they still danced like that here!"

"Sometimes." He shrugged and spun her again. Her dress flared slightly, the material fanning out and hitting his legs. She spun out of his reach, her hands up in the air, head tipped back, and, to his surprise, started to sing.

**"If you want it, you got it, huh, if you want it, baby, you got it."**

She twisted, and stopped trying to dance properly, or to imitate Ichigo. She started kicking her feet and dancing in circles, looking ridiculous. But she was grinning, so he figured it was okay to start laughing again, abandoning himself to imitate her stupid dancing style.

**"JUST BUST A MOVE!" **They shouted together, high-fiving with a roar of laughter.

Ichigo snagged her around the waist and pulled her to him, raising on eyebrow at her flushed face.

"If I want it, I've got it, eh?" he teased, bending towards her.

Her lips curved upwards, and her fingers touched, ever so gently, against the corner of his mouth, startling him.

"You should smile more often," she said. "You never smile like this around other people."

Ichigo felt his smile grow in response, and he was about to say something back when a realization hit him.

They were laughing and smiling and dancing together.

This seemed suspiciously like...flirting?

He jumped back away from her, feeling heat rush to his face. Stupid song, stupid dancing, stupid rumours at school. This was all their fault.

"Ichigo?" Rukia said in confusion as he backed away, then dashed towards the stairs.

"Sorry, I really should get back to that homework!" he called over his shoulder.

He shut his bedroom door behind him and slumped down in his chair at his desk. Already his weird thoughts downstairs were fading. What had he been thinking? Rukia was an obnoxious, uninvited guest, who liked bunnies, stole his sister's clothes, and forced him to help her with her job.

Yeah, him and Rukia were nothing more then friends. The very thought was alien.

Still, he couldn't remember the last time he had laughed like that.

Maybe he should find the video camera.

Rukia dancing would probably be a hit on youtube.

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><p><strong>The theme for the song before this was "beautiful". The theme for this song was "just plain having fun". Next song? "Sexy".<strong>


End file.
